Microsoft is likely to shift to a twice-a-year upgrade schedule for Windows 10, as opposed to the original three-times-a-year upgrade cycle it first proposed.

Although no one from Microsoft has actually confirmed the new upgrade cycle, Gregg Keizer writes in ComputerWorld that the Redmond company has begun using different terminology in public documentation that talks about issuing upgrades two-to-three-times a year. Previously, the company has always cited a three-times-a-year upgrade cadence.

Here’s the actual passage from a newly revised technical overview of Windows 10’s servicing options:

“With Windows 10, a new model is being adopted. Instead of new features being added only in new releases that happen every few years, the goal is to provide new features two to three times per year, continually providing new capabilities while maintaining a high level of hardware and application compatibility.”

Keizer cites Gartner Inc. analyst Steve Kleynhans as saying it’s far more likely we’ll only see upgrades every six months as opposed to every four months, at least for the time being. He said that Microsoft’s engineers would need time to get used to the new rapid release schedule that the new Windows-as-a-Service model demands.

“Realistically, for the first couple of years, we’ll probably see two upgrades each year,” Kleynhans said. “Microsoft will toy with and tweak their processes for the first couple of years, but I think they will get to three [a year] at some point.”

Kleynhans’ comments come barely a week after Microsoft pushed out the first major update to Windows 10. Build 1511 comes less than four months after Microsoft first launched the new operating system, but analysts believe it could be the last we’ll see for a while. The company has yet to indicate when Build 1511 might be followed up, but ZDNet’s long-time Windows watcher Mary Jo Foley predicts we won’t see any more major upgrades until the middle of next year, which is still seven to eight months away.

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